This week's UK news: 4 September 2009
4 September 2009

Drive safely

A film created by a British police force has become a worldwide hit on You Tube.

It shows a terrible car crash caused by a driver who is sending a text message. She survives, but her friends and people in another car are all killed.

The film, which cost just £10,000 to make, was created to use in schools in Wales and the rest of the UK. The finished version will be 30 minutes long, but just four minutes have been released so far and put on You Tube by the film-maker, Peter Watkins-Hughes.

People think it has been so popular around the world because it shows the crash in shocking detail. Driving and using a mobile phone is illegal in the UK but not in other parts of the world.

Swine flu numbers down again

Just 4,500 new cases of swine flu were reported in the UK last week. And the Government believes the next outbreak of the epidemic will be far less serious than it previously thought.

The illness caused by the H1N1 virus has turned out to be far less serious than was at first thought. Most people have suffered only a mild illness, although some patients have needed hospital treatment.

There is more good news, because doctors had expected infections to rise again when schools reopened after the summer, but schools in Scotland start earlier than the rest of the UK, and cases have not risen there.

New campaign to use less power

People in the UK are being asked to try and reduce their use of power by ten per cent to help the fight against climate change.

Everyone is being asked to change the way they live a little, to help stop warming of the planet. The campaign is suggesting that people could walk or cycle to work, cut the number of flights they take, and ensure homes lose less heat in winter.

World War II

The Second World War started for the UK 70 years ago, and the newspapers and television have been full of memories.

More than three million children were sent to live with strangers in the countryside to protect them from bombing raids. Many of them have been talking about how this changed their lives.

And a singer who was famous for her wartime songs is now in the best-selling album charts. Dame Vera Lynn, who used to sing to British soldiers, is now 92 years old. Her CD was released to coincide with the anniversary of World War II.


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